Please go live somewhere else for a couple of years and then come back and tell us how unfree we are. I think what will lose us our freedom is people who cry "Jackbooted thugs" at every turn, until people roll their eyes and ignore the problem when it really is REAL. There is a story about a boy who cried wolf. Please read it. It's instructive.
susie
susie, susie, susie. I know the story of the boy who cried wolf and I am quite sure that this man knew it very well himself when he wrote these words:
"It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens, and one of the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution. The freeman of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthen itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the consequences in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle."
--James Madison,"A Memorial and Remonstrance", 1785: Works 1:163
Oh, one more thing . . .
I don't compare the USA to other countries less free. That is folly. For 225 + years, this country has been a haven for those longing to be free, not just freer.
The scary thing about this was pointed out by one such person who came here in his quest for liberty. Before excaping his own country to come here, he stated that we were always a beacon for people everywhere. The dream, everyone's dream, was to come to America. If we forsake freedom for some perceived notion of safety, not only do others no have a place to flee to for freedom, but where do we go? What country will be our haven?
If America becomes another Europe, or South America, or Africa, where do we run?